https://www.facebook.com/ClassicReplayOfficial/

Sunday, 30 January 2011

Classic Revolution

Anyone remember the 80's? White dog poop? British cars? Monstrous perms? How about the ultimate fashion accessories, the Sony Walkman or Boom box? Anyway, it was a great period, and sadly missed by many. This was the decade that massively shaped us, and the culture that embraced technology. TV shows were mostly awesome; the A-Team, Battlestar Galactica, Transformers, Battle of the Planets, and Thundercats HOOOO! On the other hand, the toys were complete shizzle, but worth it for the comedy value… especially ‘Big Trak’, a massive truck, that could traumatise even the biggest of dogs. However; the ultimate toy was the Rubik cube, I beat it easily by peeling off the stickers.

The Computers were mostly awesome back then, and the silly arguments memorable. You either owned a Speccy or a C64, all the special kids had the Amstrad, I owned the latter. The jokes about my mum were terrible, but justified... as she was the one who bought me the bloody thing (just kidding mum). The games look incredibly basic by today's standards, but on the whole can still be considered exciting. The limitations were massive though, and because of this... certain genres were born. Sabre Wulf, Head over Heels and Manic Miner are all fine examples, that still keep many retro enthusiasts busy today.

I think we take technology for granted today. but I'll never forget the experience of being born during the revolution of the integrated microchip. I experienced the technology first hand, and in most cases suffered in its infancy. Still, I consider myself very lucky to have been a kid during that era.

The eighties took us from analogue to digital, downsized the technology and allowed us to go mobile. VHS (Not Beta-Max) brought the cinema experience home, albeit smaller, and at a cheap and affordable price, as Sinclair did for gaming. For the first time we could capture and record television for later viewing. Everything we have in our homes, the advances we’ve made in home electronics, all began with the devices that became standard in the homes of the eighties. And I still have all my original 8-bit machines working some 25 years later, I wonder how many Xbox 360's will be able to boast the same, ten years from now, let alone twenty five.